“SUU is by far the smallest school in terms of account followers, so to be ranked in the top 10 nationally is a huge testament to the work our team does each day,” said Lexi Carter, SUU’s marketing manager. “Social media never sleeps, so we are essentially posting and listening at all hours of the day, seven days a week. To be ranked for social media engagement shows just how awesome our SUU audiences are at liking, commenting, and sharing our content.”

This year, SUU ranked in the “Consistently Crushin’ It” category for remaining in the Top 50 overall each year since 2017. First ranked in 21st position in 2016, SUU has moved up considerably to hold ninth overall the last two years. Both SUU’s Twitter account and Instagram accounts ranked in the Top 20 in their individual categories.

In addition to analyzing the data, this year’s report includes insights and best practices from the ranked universities, helping other schools to utilize these tools to spark engagement growth. Among those highlighted was @SUUTBirds annual April Fool’s Day prank, showcasing humor, and the human side, of a university.

Positive rankings are not the only thing driving SUU’s social strategy. While ‘vanity metrics’ are useful to prove necessity, SUU’s Marketing Communication team also strategizes content, distribution methods and tailors each post to reach specific audiences defined by the uniqueness of each platform. The team sets monthly and yearly goals based on controllable factors like content type, color/imagery, posting consistency and messaging.

“This ranking is validation for all the hard work this team puts into crafting content,” said Nikki Koontz, executive director of SUU Marketing Communication. “We are sharing the stories that make SUU unique and developing a loyal network who engage with our content.”

For the past four years, the university has seen consistently steady growth in the student population, as well as online. During the 2018-2019 school year, SUU’s Twitter account grew by 14%, Instagram grew by 23%, and Facebook by 7%.

The 2019 Higher Ed Social Media Engagement Report, released by Rival IQ and Up&Up, pulled data from 338 Division I institutions, analyzing university-level account posts from June 2018- May 2019. “Engagement” is defined as a measurable interaction on social media posts, including likes, comments, retweets, shares, and reactions. Overall rankings are weighted based on audience, activity and engagement.